Pastor Prince

Why church?  More precisely, why should you belong to a church?  That's a good question in a time in which many people are finding few reasons to do so! One of the most important reasons why you should belong to a church is that you grow best as a Christ follower when you do!   Before we explore why that is, we need to distinguish between attending a church and belonging to one.  When you just attend a church, you take on the role of spectator.  You observe and maybe even take part in worship.  But you're not engaged with the church. When you belong to a church, you enter into covenant with a group of Christ followers.  You become engaged with them in fulfilling your mission to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. The accumulated wisdom of church history is that we grow in our following of the Lord Jesus by practicing spiritual disciplines.  Among the most important of them is belonging to a church. Why?  One of the mos...

John Mark could be the Forrest Gump of the New Testament!  Not because of his intelligence or athletic ability.  But because of all the famous people he rubbed shoulders with!  You may not have ever noticed him, but he's there and has a remarkable story! He first appears in Acts 12:12.  He's identified as being present in the home of his mother Mary when the church gathered there to pray for Simon Peter when he was in prison.   Then he's noted in Acts 13:5 as being with Paul and Barnabas in Cyprus as they began their missionary journey.  He didn't stay with them long.  Acts 13:13 says he left them to return home to Jerusalem.  It doesn't seem like a big deal at the time.  But Acts 15:38 says he deserted them. Paul and Barnabas continued their journey, eventually returning to Antioch.  After a time, Paul proposed that they go back to all the cities they visited on their first trip and see how the churches were doing. ...

"I can't believe he did that!"  Have you ever said that about someone?  Even the best of us can do things that are inexplicably bad.  That's because even the best of us are broken! One of the best examples in the scriptures of inexplicable behavior is David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the murder he committed to cover it up.  We read about it in 2 Samuel 11:1ff. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and she became pregnant.  The difficult thing for him was Bathsheba's husband Uriah was far away on the battlefield.  Everyone would know she was guilty of adultery and the trail would lead to David.  The king went into a coverup mode, ordering Uriah to come back home.  David made repeated attempts to get Uriah to go home to sleep with his wife, but without success.   Finally, in exasperation, David sent Uriah back to the battlefield with a sealed message for the commander.  The message told the commander to put Uri...

Are you a planner?  Not everybody is!  Some people feel lost if they don't begin each day with a plan.  Others like to go with the flow and take the day as it comes! Those of us who are planners don't like to have our plans interrupted. It confuses and frustrates us.   Moses had a plan.  Or at least seems to have!  Exodus 2:11ff says that one day he went out to see the oppression of his people.  He had been raised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but at some point became aware of his Hebrew heritage.  While he was out, he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of his people.  Maybe he had observed many incidents like this.  Moved by what he saw, he glanced around, and saved his fellow Hebrew by killing the Egyptian.  He hid his body in the sand. Maybe his plan was to become something like a Hebrew Avenger, leading his people out of slavery.  Maybe he even thought God would approve! But God blew up Moses'...

Can we ever change?  Are we fated to always be as we are, with no chance of development in faith and character? We can. But it isn't easy.  The scriptures have great examples, and in our "Comeback" worship unit, we're going to see what we can learn from them. Jacob is our first example.  He was always trying to gain an advantage over someone.  Even before birth.  He struggled in his mother's womb with his brother Esau to see who would be born first, gaining their father's birthright and blessing!  (Genesis 25:24-28).   Esau emerged first, but right behind him was Jacob, holding on to his heel.  That's where he got his name.  Jacob means "he grabs your heel."  It had a double meaning because in those days, a person who grabbed your heel was someone who tried to take advantage of you, to trip you up!  Jacob lived up to his name. First, he took advantage of his brother and got his birthright (Gen. 25:29-34).  Th...

What are you afraid of?  Each of us has our own set of fears!  The scriptures talk about fear often.  One of those times involved a prophecy about the Messiah. In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz and all his officials are terrified!  Two nations were marching against them, and they were more than capable of destroying them. In that time, a message for Ahaz came to the prophet Isaiah.  The message was that he wasn't to be afraid.  God was going to deal with the nations marching against him. Isaiah said God wanted Ahaz to name a sign that his words were true.  When Ahaz refused, the prophet said the Lord would choose a sign himself.  A young woman would become pregnant and bear a son.  She would name the son Immanuel, which means "God with us."  Before that son grew to know right from wrong, the kings and nations Ahaz feared would be only a memory! Centuries later, Matthew 1 records that a young man was upset and fearful.  His...

Christmas is supposed to be a happy time!  At least that what our cultural Christmas says!  It's supposed to be all about silver bells, shopping, and stuffing our bellies with goodies! But for many people, it isn't! For them, it's a time of sorrow.  They're grieving.  Some grieve the loss of loved ones.  Others grieve the loss of work, or the loss of community, or the breakup of a marriage, or alienation from friends or family.  Still others grieve the violence and injustice in our world. We seem to be light years away from peace on earth! But one of the great themes of the scriptural presentation of Jesus' birth is joy in sorrow. Isaiah 35 records a message God sent his sorrowful people.  They were in exile in Babylonia.  They were sorrowful because they were away from their homeland in a strange place with no hope of returning home. But in Isaiah 35, the prophet says God is going to bring them home in a joyful procession through the...